Kill the Gays Law

David Kato got up on the net briefly following his murder in 2011. He knew that he walked with a target on his back every day he lived as a gay-rights advocate in war-scarred Uganda.

This may seem far-removed from American politics, but there’s more than Ugandan trauma and prejudice at play here. American Evangelical ministers and politicians see a fertile mission field for converts and allies. Ugandan politicians, on their part, see a chance to make connections with Americans who wield power in Congress.

And who loses? Just some Ugandan citizens and organizers who have less power than Jews in pre-war Germany. This comparison is not made lightly. Proposed laws would spark an internal war on gay Ugandans, their associates, and anyone who could be labelled as gay- whatever their orientation and lifestyle.

And this is not hypothetical. Uganda has not recovered from recent civil wars. This is a match to gasoline. The name of Idi Amin is familiar to some Americans, there are other disastrous regimes that afflicted Uganda.